"Snake, we got some satellite photos of the surrounding area around the site." Ensign L.T Chalmers spoke through the COMM link while checking on Snake's position through a signal from Snake's COMM wire. It had been five minutes ever since the Banshee patrol had shot down ONI ECHO-630. Currently on the large map that illuminated in front of him, Snake was on top of a large hill, gaining recon on enemy positions and such.

"Thank L.T. Appreciate it."

"If you need recon on all of the Covenant positions, it's on the maps. And the exact location of last known marine locations."

"Wow, we didn't have this during BLOOMING FIRE."

"I'm not surprised. Operations under ONI jurisdiction get the best intelligence."

"I see..."

"Don't forget to make contact with survivors from the remaining marine positions. This might even ease tensions with the UNSC and our top brass."

"Ok..."

"And Snake?"

"Fox commends you on the destruction of the Pelican."

"Isn't that nice..." Snake clicked off the COMM link and sighed. For the last fifteen minutes, Snake had been watching a Covenant patrol move around the area, apparently unused to Earth's forests. That gave Snake an upper advantage, since Snake had been trained in forest and woodland combat and survival camps. And Snake smiled, the Covenant had already made their first mistake.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Snake had noticed a lone marine sniper had moved into the bushes, at most 70 meters away from the Covenant patrol team. The Covenant's backs were turned, and as Snake predicted, the sniper would take his chances.

"Hmm..." Snake watched through the binoculars as the marine had poked the standard UNSC S2 AM through the bush. The sniper was an amateur, Snake noticed. The S2 AM leaves a trail of gas from its barrel whenever a bullet is fired. But if he was able to take out all of them before they find out the sniper's position from the trail the bullet leaves. Being unable to help due to mission orders, Snake would watch the engagement, or move on, while the marine picks off the patrol one by one. He decided to watch the amateur sniper and take out the remaining Covenant when he moved through the area.

CRACK! Snake watched as the lone marine let off a round into the main leader of the patrol team, a large Elite. The first bullet had broken the shield barrier, but the second round had left a three inch hole through its head. The lifeless body of the Elite slumped to the ground, purple blood oozing from the fatal wound. The patrol now tried to follow the bullet trails, but it had disappeared in a few mere seconds.

But the patrol now began to run for cover behind the trees and rocks that littered the path. But the marine had wasted two grunts before reloading. Now the remaining Covenant had found the position and began firing on the sniper. But the sniper wouldn't give up easily, Snake smiled. The sniper had move a few yards back from the bush, and behind a rock.

CRACK! CRACK! After a few more head shots, the sniper had finished off the Covenant patrol, with a few more rounds than he hoped for. It was like as his instructors had shown him. Take out the Elite and the rest will fall easily. The marine stood up triumphantly and walked towards his fallen foes. He kicked each of them to see if they were dead or not. As he walked over to the body of the dead Elite, the marine felt something like a sword go through his chest. He felt his chest and saw the blood dripping out from the wound. The marine soon fell on the ground, eyes open, oblivious to who had killed him.

Snake watched the marine fall to the ground, killed by an Covenant sniper that was hiding in the distance. Probably a Elite,Snake thought as he checked his pistol. He knew that he couldn't take out a Covenant sniper with just a pistol. If it was an Elite, Snake would have to take out the shields and then aim for the head, which was unlikely with just the pistol. He had to find a sniper rifle. Snake then opened the frequency for Colonel Fox, his body prone in the grass, to avoid detection.

"Snake?"

"Colonel. There's a Covenant sniper in the area. I don't have any sniper rifle with me. Only the M6d-"

"And the SMG? Yes, we know. This is the only way towards the site."

"I know that Colonel. Is there any abandoned armories around here?"

"Yeah, there is one Snake. In fact, it's close to your position. There should be a cave somewhere east of your position."

"Alright. Any resistance along the way?"

"No... from reports, there should be some grunts and jackals moving around the area."

"Alright, I'm moving out." Snake now began to crawl down the hill, hoping that the Elite didn't see the grass bend when Snake moved past it. Luckily, the Covenant sniper hadn't noticed Snake's departure from the battlefield. The area of forest in between the Uganda and Kenyan border has been called by locals, the Forest of Secrets. The COMM link beeped again. Snake stopped and dropped to one knee. "Yes?"

"Change your black fatigues, Snake. Even though the armory is lightly guarded, you won't be noticed if you wear the 'Tiger Stripes' outfit."

"Uh huh..."

"Black sticks out more in a forest, Snake."

"Tell me about it..." Snake began to open the combat backpack and began to change into his tiger stripes outfit. The tiger stripes outfit, hence the name had the color of light green, striped green, and dark green in order to blend into any forest setting. Snake smiled as he finished putting the standard ONI operations BDU. He felt comfortable back in tiger stripes camouflage. It had reminded him of Operation GREEN LANTERN...

"Alright, get ready. We're almost at the landing zone." Snake heard his squad leader. It was his second operation under 'NavySpecWar' jurisdiction. Other than his first operation, which taking took place on a desert colony, GREEN LATERN would take place on the Planet Tyros, a planet that is mostly filled with forests and rivers. A perfect place to train, Snake thought. The reason why his squad, the 'Silent Ninjas' had been sent was to investigate a lost signal on a UNSC training base. But in truth, it was an ONI secret weapons facility. "All right, Silent Ninjas. This is your stop here."

"Alright, men! Let's move!" Squad leader Antonio Garcia began to move forward, his squad following him. Instead of regular UNSC fatigues, the squads involved in these operations were given 'Tiger' fatigues in order to blend in with Tyros's forests and such. Snake smiled at the thought, a green tiger. The 'Silent Ninjas' was consisted of 6 men. Four of them were elite marines, and the other two were Helljumpers. All were trained in jungle and woodland warfare, which made them the perfect team of choice for GREEN LANTERN.

"Sir, I see contact. It looks like a Covenant dropship sir." Snake heard one of the ODSTs inform Garcia. Garcia merely nodded and held out the sign to halt.

"Alright, we're almost to ALPHA point. I want weapons hold until we find out the number of bastards in the area. And Snake and Huynh?"

"Yes sir?" Snake addressed his squad leader.

"I want you and Huynh to get close, undetected and find out their numbers. The rest of us won't be far off. Get moving."

"Sir, yes, sir!" Snake and Huynh, a burly Vietnamese man from Reach moved off from the squad and into the forest, away from the clearing...

"Alright, I'm just outside the armory." Snake stepped out in the clearing and watched the Covenant guards through his binoculars. There were at most three stationary guns, two Elites standing outside, four of five grunts patrolling the area, and six Jackals. So much for minimal security, Snake thought as he closed the binoculars and stood behind the tree.

"Ok. Looking from these old specs from blueprints, there should be a back door into the armory. Look for one around the back of the armory, probably hidden by grass. The tiger stripes camo is pretty good in this situation? First time?"

"Not exactly..."

"Oh... ok. Good luck."

"Thanks." Snake surveyed the armory. From the mission maps, this armory, ARMORY 402 had been created when the ONI excavation had arrived. ARMORY 402 was situated below a large cliff that gave anyone who had taken control of the hill a large advantage of seeing everything in a four mile radius. Below the cliff was a small clearing with the armory in the center of it. That was Snake's objective so far, to retrieve a sniper rifle and then go back to the forest and take out the Elite sniper, in order to get to the crash site.